The CRO announced the transition dates for the new CORE portal. We welcome the launch of the new system however the timing will have a major impact on CRO presenters particularly for anyone looking to form a company or to have a change in directors/secretary registered before the end of the year.
Key points for new CORE Portal:
- Cut-off date for digital signature pages is 7th December 2020
- CORE will be closed from the 7th December 2020 until 16th December 2020 so no CRO forms will be able to be generated during this period
- Signature pages from “old CORE” received after the cut-off date will not be accepted and forms will need to be re-filed with the new system once it has gone live
- This will have an impact on having companies formed or having a change in directors/secretary registered before the end of the year particularly with the year-end rush and Brexit looming
- PDF signature pages to replace wet signature pages for CRO forms (no more post!)
- Introduction of the new automatic 56 day rule for annual returns
Companies and Presenters should act today if they want to have companies formed or documents registered using the existing forms.
The transition dates are as follows:
- 07 December 2020 – Cut Off Date for the receipt of signature pages
- 10 December 2020 – Cut Off Date for the receipt of electronically signed C1/C1A/C1B/F8/F8A/F8Bs*
- 11 December 2020 – CRO will begin transition period to new system
- 16 December 2020 – CORE Go-Live
- 16 December 2020 – Legislation to facilitate the “56 day” timeline for filing B1 Annual Returns will come into force
All manual documents can continue to be delivered as normal and will be processed in due course.
How does this affect filing in CRO?
CRO will only accept digital signature pages generated on the “old” CORE system up to 7th December, after that the forms will have to be re-drafted in the new system when it goes live on 16th December 2020. The forms produced on the old system will be redundant after the 7th December.
As the CRO offices are closed to the public, the signed documentation should be posted by express post no later than Friday 4th December 2020 to ensure they are received on time as there is already some delays in the postal system.
There will be a week long delay in preparing new CRO forms and hopefully there will not be too many teething issues when the new system goes live on 16th December 2020. If you are looking to do any corporate transactions before the end of the year I would advise you to act immediately or wait until after 16th December 2020.
PDF signature pages to replace posting wet signature pages
One of the most welcome advantages of the new CORE Portal is the ability to upload the signature page of the CRO form in PDF directly into the CORE Portal without the need to post the form to CRO. This will be a massive saving of time and stress trying to get in particular annual return signature pages into the CRO before the deadline.
A signature page will still have to be generated and signed however a PDF version of the signed signature page may be uploaded to the system. The use of E-signatures to sign the signature page is not permitted.
Automatic 56 days to file Annual Returns
Another significant advantage of the new CORE Portal is the commencement of the new automatic 56 day period to file an annual return. Companies will have an automatic 56 days from its Annual Return Date to complete the filing of the annual return and upload of the financial statements. CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFO
Note: The content of this article is provided for information purposes only and does not constitute legal or other advice.
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